You can drink in the saloon, spend the night in a caboose and use your imagination in the “House of Negotiable Affection.” Or, you can buy the whole, 9-acre, frontier spread for $1.495 million.

This is the Stargazing Desert Retreat, a neighbor of fabled Pioneertown in San Bernardino County. The latter was founded by such Hollywood cowboys as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and dozens of movies and TV shows were filmed there in the 1940s and 50s. Now, many decades later, Pioneertown is enjoying getaway status as “the new Old West,” as The New York Times called it in 2016.

The retreat is a six-minute stroll away, and the setting for a renovated ranch house in the midst of a Western movie set on the edge of the Pioneertown Mountain Preserve. The property is roughly 20 minutes from Joshua Tree and 40 minutes from Palm Springs.

The main house is about 3,000 square feet and has two newly added casitas. In the living and dining rooms are vaulted ceilings and walls of glass. Throughout the home are ceramic tile floors with wood patterns, and a covered patio out back has a motorcycle for a chandelier.

The train caboose has been renovated and turned into a separate, en-suite guest room. The saloon can hold around 80 people. There’s a blacksmith shop.

A hotel, barbershop, jail, general store and a tiny church, plus the aforementioned House of Negotiable Affection are also part of the “town”. They’re mostly facades.

All the furnishings in the house, caboose and saloon are included in the price, says owner Hugh Glenn. That includes 30 life-size cowboy and Indian mannequins, a large, bronze cast replica of Frederic Remington’s “The Cowboy,” an 1800s fire wagon, and a covered wagon previously owned by Montie Montana, the rodeo trick rider/roper, actor and stuntman who dazzled Rose Parade crowds for decades.

Three riding rings and stables for eight horses help fill the Desert Retreat’s grounds. Another 7.3 acres spread along five nearby parcels also are part of the deal, says Tim Schneider of Bennion Deville Homes, the listing agent.

The retreat once was called Big Horn Ranch and owned by Fullerton resident Joe Uddo. Much of his collection was destroyed in the Sawtooth fire of 2006. But Uddo rebuilt, adding even more features to his Mojave Desert playground.

Then Glenn bought the place, and it again became “a toy to fix up,” as Schneider described it.

“The house is totally unrecognizable from the original house,” Glenn says. “The land was totally flat and we added boulders and berms to provide privacy. The recurring theme was to bring the outside of the desert in, where one can feel the land and enjoy the 25,000-acre land preserve in the distance. The views of stars from the living room, dining room, and outside patio are astounding and magical.”

An ideal buyer would be someone looking for a family or corporate retreat or an Airbnb rental/investment property, Schneider figures. The house rents for about $2,000 on a weekend.

The Times linked Pioneertown’s renaissance to an influx of artists, entrepreneurs “and other beautiful people from Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and New York City looking for a new hub for work or play.”

At least one local spot, tiny desert bar Pappy & Harriet’s, has become an icon. Anthony Bourdain featured it on “No Reservations,” Billboard Magazine named it one of the top 10 hidden gems in the country, and a couple of years ago, fresh from the Desert Trip music festival, Paul McCartney stunned locals when he took to the stage.

Marilyn Kalfus covers news, issues, and trends for The Orange County Register's award-winning Sunday Real Estate section, which in 2015 snagged first place for best U.S. newspaper real estate section from the National Association of Real Estate Editors. She also writes stories, edits photos and puts together slideshows for our popular Hot Homes feature about iconic, big-ticket and unusual properties on the market. On weekends, she edits police, breaking news and general assignment reporters.